An elder cousin had an illegitimate daughter at the time who was later accepted as the daughter of the grandparents, William and Martha Hobley, who were Dyer's aunt and uncle. ĭyer had an elder sister, Sarah Ann, who died in 1841 at age 6, and a younger sister, also named Sarah Ann, who died in 1845 aged a few months. Researchers later commented on the effect this had on Dyer, and what it taught her about the symptoms exhibited by those who appear to lose their mind through illness. Amelia witnessed her mother's violent fits and was obliged to care for her until she died in 1848. However, her childhood was marred by the mental illness of her mother, caused by typhus. Amelia learned to read and write and developed a love of literature and poetry. Background Īmelia Dyer was born the youngest of five (with three brothers – Thomas, James and William – and a sister, Ann) in the small village of Pyle Marsh, just east of Bristol, the daughter of master shoemaker Samuel Hobley and Sarah Hobley (née Weymouth). ĭyer's case led to stricter laws for adoption and child protection, and helped raise the profile of the fledgling National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which formed in 1884. At the time of her death, a handful of murders were attributed to Dyer, but there is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths-up to 400 (or possibly more), making her a candidate for history's most prolific serial killer. In one of the most sensational trials of the Victorian period, she was found guilty of the murder of infant Doris Marmon and hanged on 10 June 1896. ĭyer's downfall came when the bagged corpse of an infant was discovered in the River Thames, with evidence leading back to her. Mentally unstable, she was committed to several mental asylums throughout her life, despite suspicions of feigning, and survived at least one serious suicide attempt. She then began directly murdering children she "adopted", strangling at least some of them, and disposing of the bodies to avoid attention. She initially cared for the children legitimately, in addition to having two of her own, but whether intentionally or not a number of them died in her care, leading to a conviction for neglect and six months' hard labour. Trained as a nurse and widowed in 1869, she turned to baby farming-the practice of adopting unwanted infants in exchange for money-to support herself. Amelia Elizabeth Hobley 1836 – 10 June 1896), popularly dubbed the Ogress of Reading, was an English serial killer who murdered infants in her care over a thirty-year period during the Victorian era.
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